In the fast food industry in particular, it is common to provide carriers, conventionally formed of folded paperboard or cardboard, to accommodate multiple beverage cups and the like. Such carriers, in addition to allowing for the convenient carrying of multiple cups, will also function as a holder for cups upon a placing of the carrier on a table, counter top, or the like.
However, beverage cups have become increasingly larger in recent years, and the ability of the conventional handled carrier to handle the larger cups is less than satisfactory. While this is not particularly noticeable in carriers adapted to contain more than a single row of drinking cups, for example four cups in a square carrier, the problem is particularly acute with regard to 2-cup carriers with the cups aligned within a narrow carrier of a transverse width approximately that of the width of the received cups. A degree of lateral stability can result from a perfectly planar base on the carrier and a perfectly planar support surface, tabletop or the like. However, as the height of the cups increases, particularly as the conventional cup will normally increase in diameter upward from a narrow lower end, the problems of maintaining lateral stability to the carrier will also increase.
It is to be appreciated that while carriers of the type involved herein are referred to as cup carriers, the word cup is intended to encompass equivalent beverage containers such as soda or beer bottles and cans, juice jars, and the like.